Senior US diplomat to North Korea announces retirement

US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun arrives at a meeting with the media in Bangkok, Thailand December 15, 2017. Jorge Silva/Reuters

Joseph Yun, the US State Department's special representative for North Korea policy, plans to retire for personal reasons.

Yun traveled to North Korea last June to help secure the release of American student Otto Warmbier, who died days later.

Yun said "it was completely my decision to retire at this time."

SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department's special representative for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun, plans to retire for personal reasons, amid signs Pyongyang may be willing to talk with Washington.

Yun has led the U.S. diplomatic outreach to North Korea since taking his post under former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016.

Yun traveled to North Korea last June to help secure the release of American student Otto Warmbier, whose subsequent death further soured relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

U.S. President Donald Trump has charted a more confrontational approach to North Korea and its nuclear weapons program, forcing Yun to often operate under mixed White House messages of impending military strikes as well as diplomatic overtures.

"Ambassador Joe Yun, a respected member of the Senior Foreign Service, has decided to retire for personal reasons," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "has reluctantly accepted his decision and wished him ‎well," she added.